My Father Is Strange – ep 20 recap

Mom has walked in on her daughter wearing a bathrobe in a man’s apartment. She yells uncontrollably at Hye Young while Jung Hwan tries to shield her from Mom’s blows. That’s bad enough without what comes next. Landlady Oh arrives, too, (having accidentally received photos of the lovebirds on her phone) and angrily forbids her son to be with this woman. It is a rude realization for the two mothers who know they’ve been lied to by their adult children. Hye Young’s lingerie on the drying rack is the nail in the coffin. Mom has lost energy and spirit. She tells Hye Young to put on her overcoat and follow her. 

Jun Young and the younger sisters feel they should tell Dad about Hye Young. After they break the news to him, Dad stumbles out the door and orders his children upstairs. When Mom and Hye Young arrive by taxi, Dad helps a terribly shaken Mom inside. Hye Young has no choice but to sheepishly follow her parents.

When Hye Young lowers her head and apologizes, Mom angrily shouts, “You’re sorry?” She lists all the things Hye Young did to fool them with the intent of deceiving them from the beginning. Hye Young has the nerve to tell Mom that she didn’t exactly lie about everything; the friend was from a school club and a university alumnae. Plus, she never told them her friend was female. Mom can hardly catch her breath, she is so angry. She brings up the fact that Hye Young acted like she didn’t know the man at the police station that time. Hye Young wonders out loud why two adults living together is so wrong. Dad reprimands her for talking back to her mom. “How could you live with a guy when you’re not even married?” Mom stares blankly with tears streaming down her face.

The siblings listen at the door and mumble under their breath for Hye Young to beg for forgiveness instead of justifying what she did. Ra Young has her own priorities: she asks Joong Hee to hide the designer bag. She knows the deal she made with Hye Young is in serious jeopardy.

Landlady Oh clobbers Jung Hwan in a raging fit. How dare he live with a woman in the studio she bought for him! He reminds her that he is 38 years old, but Landlady Oh can’t accept anything he is saying in this situation. Husband isn’t happy either; he tells his son that he should have introduced the woman to them if he was dating her. Jung Hwan admits he isn’t proud of what he’s done. He expresses to his parents how much he loves this person and intends on marrying her. Landlady Oh won’t hear of it. After all, she is the daughter of that gimbap lady. She demands that he break up with her right now.

Hye Young listlessly admits to her siblings, “You already heard everything. I got caught living with a guy.” Jun Young throws the book at her. How could she cover it up when she was found out by Ra Young? He tells his oldest sister that she should have fixed things at that point and avoided this terrible mess. Hye Young isn’t proud of hurting their parents, but asks, “Is living with someone that bad?” Mi Young replies that if she didn’t think it was a big deal, why did she lie about it? Of course, it was because their parents wouldn’t have approved. How about when the family sent her off? What about the side dishes Dad so lovingly prepared? Is she shameless? Jun Young peppers her with statements of disbelief at what she has done. But when Hye Young asks him what right he has to say anything, he has to agree he is in no position to criticize. Still, she was wrong, he insists. Yes, he disappointed their parents, but she has betrayed them. “Don’t’ you know how precious you are to Mom and Dad?” he reminds her. She knows that, but she has always been the one under a lot of pressure, she responds. She has had to always be the perfect daughter. “It’s not easy to live with such love and expectations,” she confesses.

“So are you saying you didn’t do anything wrong?” Jun Young counters. Mi Young has something to say. She has always looked up to Hye Young, but “This time you did make a mistake.” She has never seen Dad so angry and Mom has never cried like she is over this. Ra Young just looks scared.

Hye Young’s eyes well up with tears. She looks away, knowing that she has turned the house upside-down.

Joong Hee and Al retreat to the roof. It’s very noisy in the household. He senses something is wrong but no one is telling him anything. Plus, now that Mi Young isn’t his manager, he has to practice his lines on his own. He isn’t sure what to do. (But doesn’t he look dashing in that red and white striped seersucker suit? I guess Yoo Joo came through with some new threads.)

Ra Young escapes downstairs to Grandma’s. She tells them that something huge has happened. Uncle asks, “Is it worse than when Han Soo brought home a secret son?” (^^laughing at his tactless wording^^) Their shocked expressions say it all; no one can believe Hye Young – the pride of the family – has deceived her parents like this.

Dad begs Mom to lie down and get some sleep. He’s afraid she’ll collapse. Mom is still seething. She marches into the girls’ room; she isn’t done dealing with Hye Young. “How can you do this to me?” She didn’t want to say this in front of Dad, but how could Hye Young be in her bathrobe at a man’s apartment? Mom sobs. Hye Young hates seeing her cry and tells her to just hit her until she feels better.

The next morning Hye Young helps make breakfast. Mom and Dad aren’t hungry, but Jun Young insists the children won’t eat without them. They shuffle to the family table where everyone sits uncomfortably. No one talks. Mom can’t eat. She goes back to her room, despondent and weak.

Mi Young fiddles at work now that she isn’t Joong Hee’s manager. She watches the live interview of the cast of “Oh My Boss.” The interviewer asks the three stars to tell about a favorite memory with their dads. Sung Joon says he and his father travel together. Lee Hye Rim says she takes lots of pictures with her dad. Joong Hee hesitates then says, “I remember when my dad fed me gimbap ends.” The interviewer can only say, “That is certainly a humble memory.” As Mi Young watches, she recalls them sitting around at the Snackshack lightheartedly packing gimbap and Dad feeding them end slices. It makes her sad that Joong Hee only has that small memory of his father.

Ra Young takes a seat at lunch with Cheol Soo and Twin. She comments that the lunch today looks great, but she takes out a salad saying that she is on a diet. Twin wonders why; she doesn’t look like she needs to diet. “You don’t think I’m fat?” He says she isn’t fat at all and asks Cheol Soo. He clears his throat and mumbles that he thinks she’s fine. Ra Young eagerly asks if she can have a dumpling and eats it deliciously. Twin is amused. He feeds her a dumpling from his plate. Cheol Soo doesn’t know what his brother is doing – is he hitting on her? He slides his tray her way and says, “Go ahead.” Ra Young, who figures she’s just one of the guys, pops her pants button to make room. Cheol Soo is startled and stares ahead.

Twin likes her cute pout-y face as she munches away. Cheol Soo is annoyed at the way his brother is acting and excuses himself. Twin asks Ra Young to buy him coffee. She doesn’t like how forward he is being toward her. “Why are you asking me?” It seems like he is cheating on his “boyfriend” and she decides to straighten this all out. She calls Cheol Soo to meet them right away at the coffee shop. Now she’ll expose everything. So, Cheol Soo’s boyfriend is putting the move on her. They look at her puzzled. “You know, your lover. “Break up with him. He’s not a good man,” she explains to Cheol Soo. “We’re twins.” You can see Ra Young’s brain work hard to process what she just heard. “But you don’t look similar, she stutters. Of course, they’re fraternal twins. He points to his brother and himself, “Park Young Hee, Park Cheol Soo.” They boys are amused at her hugely embarrassing mistake and tease, “Do we look good together?” “Thank you, goodbye” she bows and scoots away to the bathroom where she plans to live out the rest of her life. How could she have made such a mistake? How can she live this one down? Ra Young is mortified.

Husband isn’t happy with the way his son treated the woman he is dating. He tells Jung Hwan that he should have cherished her more and respected her. When Jung Hwan tries to explain that they have a clash of values, his father says that’s just an excuse. If he had a daughter whose boyfriend seduced her into living with him, he wouldn’t ever forgive him. Husband tells Jung Hwan to apologize to his mother. But it’s a stand-off: Landlady Oh wants him to break up. Furthermore, she intends on selling that studio. “Move back in with us,” she tells him. Jung Hwan is adamant about wanting to marry Hye Young. More comes out: she is the same girlfriend he had eight years ago. They got back together and he doesn’t want to lose her again. She is the one for him. Landlady Oh yells “Never!” and leaves the room. She realizes that Hye Young has known who she is all along and is furious. “That brat,” she repeats.

Jung Hwan and Hye Young run into each other the next day. It’s bad at home they tell each other. Jung Hwan doesn’t know what he should do. He takes the blame. For now, they agree that they have to play it cool and promise to text while they wait it out. They clasp hands, and then Jung Hwan sadly watches Hye Young head off to work.

Mi Young waits for Joong Hee in the conference room. She apologizes for behaving rashly. With him showing up at their house, she explains, things have been tough for her, but she hadn’t considered that things were tough for him, too. However, when she saw the interview and that his only memory of his father was being fed slices of gimbap, well – it broke her heart. She and her siblings only thought about how he was taking their Dad from them, but perhaps he could say that they took his dad away for 35 years. Maybe she can start to accept that her dad is his dad, too. “Will you accept my apology?” Joong Hee waits a moment, clears his throat, and answers, “Okay. Since you’re asking my forgiveness, why not?”

Mi Young is happy. She asks to work for him, again and Joong Hee agrees to take her back. “But keep your personal and work life separate,” he reminds her.

With that cue, Mi Young suggests they lay out some basic rules to do just that.

She writes their agreed upon rules on the whiteboard:

At work he’ll call her intern; at home – Judo. ♥so cute♥

She’ll continue to call him Actor Ahn.

They’ll make the title switch within a 1k radius from home. Deal.

She will drive him to and from work, but he can’t ask her to do things after working hours. He points out that it’s hard to keep from working at night in this industry. Then, she suggests, he can text what he needs. That won’t work; he can’t say what he needs to in a text. Then, he can text and they can meet on the rooftop to discuss things. “Deal,” they agree simultaneously.

Agent Kang is about to go crazy dealing with Joong Hee’s ups and downs. Now he wants to work with the intern. Agent Kang asks, “Are you in some kind of relationship?” Joong Hee sputters, “What? She’s my sister.” Agent Kang utters, “What?” Joong Hee tries to clear it up by saying ”She’s something like a sister.”

Hye Young brings home grilled eel for Mom and Dad. They haven’t eaten all day. Mom is in bed, unable to function. “I can’t stand seeing you. Get out.” She scoffs when Hye Young acts like she cares about them. Hye Young doesn’t see why Mom is so upset. While she is sorry that she deceived them she points out that her values differ from theirs. Times have changed. Young people live together these days. And she and Jung Hwan aren’t minors.  It isn’t scandalous these days.

“What?” Mom is livid. So why did she deceive them if she wasn’t ashamed? When Hye Young goes on and on that the world has changed, couples live together to figure things out, and social values aren’t as rigid anymore, Mom boils over.

“You’re right and we’re wrong? So we’re old fashioned stuffed-up and closed-minded? We scream and scold when you did nothing wrong? Your parents failed to change with the world, is that it? If you are going to mock our values, get out!” Mom isn’t going to let Hye Young get away with that kind of thinking. Even Dad is surprised at Mom’s strong words.

Jun Young and the sisters can’t believe Hye Young. Jun Young is exasperated, “You just threw oil on a blazing fire. Why are you who is so smart acting so stupid?” Hye Young’s practical personality comes out: it’s not a right-wrong situation. It’s just that she is different from Mom. That’s all. Her siblings don’t know if that’s right to say.

Mom can’t sleep. Dad worries that she might really fall ill. Dad thinks they should marry them off. Mom is shocked – and become in-laws with that woman? She doesn’t know how Dad can even suggest that. But what choice do they have? Hye Young is a woman. Dad isn’t happy either. But he reasons that they live in a conservative society and can’t let her go on living with a man. Mom is beside herself.

Dad heads to work at the Snackshack. He runs into Landlady Oh who has just posted a closed sign at her coffee shop.When she sees Dad she exclaims, “What kind of twisted karma is this?” He should have kept a closer eye on his daughter, she tells him in an ugly, accusing tone. Dad apologizes. She lets him know that she regrets buying the building and has closed down the café and put the building up for sale. She wants to get rid of it quickly, even if she loses money, in hopes of cutting all ties with his family. “Let’s stay out of each other’s lives” and hopes they never cross paths again. Dad stands motionless and says nothing to her accusing rant.

Jun Young overhears their conversation. “Why didn’t you say anything, Dad? She made it sound like all the blame is on Hye Young.” Dad doesn’t want him to tell Mom or Hye Young about this. Jun Young seems bothered by his dad’s behavior.

What a happy surprise: Agent Kang tosses Joong Hee the keys to a van. Just know that he had to pull strings to get it. Joong Hee gives him the biggest giggly hug. In the parking lot, he tosses the key to Mi Young and tells her to press it. She is now the driver of a celebrity van and grins as if all her dreams have come true. In her enthusiasm, she grabs Joong Hee’s hands.

He awkwardly brushes hers away. “Let’s break it in” he says as he clears his throat. He’s happy to see her so giddy over the van.

Jung Hwan pulls up to the Byun home dressed in a suit and carrying a basket fruit. He knocks at the door. Joong Hee and Mi Young answer. For a family that is trying hard to separate private and work, things continue to become more complicated that way.

Even Hye Young is surprised to see him. “Why did you come?” she asks. “I had to,” he explains.  Mi Young summons her parents. Jung Hwan bows, “Father. Mother. I am really sorry. I should have visited sooner.” There is silence. “I will accept any punishment.”

Mom shoots lasers. Dad’s jaw couldn’t be tighter.

Comments:

• Is Jung Hwan going to propose? There is indication if that is the case, that Mom and Dad will disagree. So will Landlady Oh and Husband with the mothers on the side of wanting them to break up. (Being in-laws with each other is out of the question!) I felt bad for Hye Young’s parents when she insinuated that they were old-fashioned (or at least that’s how Mom took it). I think Mom and Dad were open-minded about Jun Young; she should have given them more time to digest what has happened.
• Yay! Mi Young and Joong Hee are a team once again. I look forward to their many meetings on the rooftop. Deal! And the van, I predict an extended Byun family trip in the future!
• I also predict that Joong Hee will buy the building, Jun Young will open a little restaurant in the cafe spot and he and Yoo Joo will have their own apartment there.
• The Twins. Hmmm. I thought Twin was going to play matchmaker for Ra Young and Cheol Soo. But now it looks like he is interested in Ra Young. Cheol Soo has always been the “little brother” and taken his ‘older brother’s” advice. He seems kind of slow in the dating department. Yet, he picked up on Twin’s flirting and didn’t like it. Of course all that may not matter; poor Ra Young may never be able to face them again after exposing that she mistook them for lovers. Twin will get a lot of mileage out of that blunder! Loved that she was so comfortable as one of the guys that she even popped her pants buttons to make room for eating big! 🙂
• I could feel Mom’s anguish (Kim Hae Sook is amazing) over her disappointment. Above all, it was the lies that have her head spinning. This time, I don’t think Hye Young is handling her position very well and is being insensitive to the family dynamics. Yes, they should talk, but right now what she is saying is too much that flies in her parents’ face.
• I think Jun Young is going to figure out that something is not right with his Dad. He seemed perplexed by Dad’s lack of response to Landlady Oh, that he didn’t stand up for his daughter or himself. Dad has lived in the shadows of another person’s identity for his entire adult life practically. It has made him complacent. Maybe he can survive like that in the cocoon that he and Mom have created, but if his children start to feel disappointed in his passiveness, then what Dad means to protect will be unprotected. I do understand the legal mess of the identity switch, especially in light of his past criminal charges (even though they were false). It is definitely a ticking time bomb.
• Mi Young is sweet and tries to do what’s right, but my kdrama heart goes to the baby of the family, Ra Young. She’s the best!

• Ahn Jae Hyun
• Joong Hee
• Jung So Min
• kdrama recap
• Kim Hae-Sook
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• Lee Joon
• Lee Yu Ri
• My Father is Strange